Ride The Lightning is definitely my favourite Metallica with Justice For All coming in second. But, I do have to say the new album is not bad. It's almost pretty good. It's a heck of an improvement from Load/Re-Load and St. Anger.

As for metal aw how come no one's mentioned Cannibal Corpse?

"It's not over I came back I brought my axe!"

One of the worst yet best metal bands.

mmm think id have to say ...and justice for all is the best!havent listened to any of their stuff since the black album, same goes for megadeath and countdown to extinsion. You also cant beat rage against the machine for some anger!

these days I listen to Bullet for my Valentine, System of a down, scars on broadway, Aiden, dragonforce, and I like what I heard so far of bring me the horizon

I like to branch off into some black metal (cradle of filth, immortal etc)

cannibal corpse were brilliant for a good laugh i wet myself when they appeared in ace venture with jim carey! quality

Is M.S.I. metal? Dont really care about labels, just wanted to post this vid! Shiny, you got this one yet? "Issues" "Evening Wear" "Bomb This Track" "Money" ...man, the whole thing is really awesome! Lil Jimmy is speakin the truth when he says:

Everybody wants to join the club
Once you join the club, the innocence is gone
Everybody wants to be the bomb
But once you are the bomb, the innocence is gone
Everybody wants a big ol' slice
Of a little pie, the innocence is gone

The new Metallica (Death Magnetic) has some good ol' Metallica flavor...it doesn't have the god-awful snare-in-a-tin can with the snares turned off overly trying to be industrial sound of the last album, or the Bob cock-rock overproduced sound of the Bob rock era albums...I don't no who produced it but I wouldn't be surprised if it was just them, like on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets with an engineer

I was talking about this, mastering the album louder and louder and ending up with reduced dynamic range and albums which tend to sound distorted and thin...which is kind of hard to understand as a stylistic choice unless you are Merzbow or one of those tr00kvlt black metal artists who do no-fi recordings in a forest (and they obviously wouldn't like such studio trickery).

Listener is no longer expected to turn that volume in their stereo up if they want to listen to an album, the music makers do it for them.

Also a reason why several music enthusiasts have started to swear by old CDs printed in 80's, they are often better-sounding than the modern ones, and not because of musical content.

What a fabulous thread that I have overlooked while paying so much attention to the gaming aspects of these boards. I didn't read every single post but a couple other bands I din't see anyone mention are Manowar and Anvil. Anvil is one of my favorite bands especially their older albums, Metal on Metal, Forged in Fire as well as others. Early Megadeth has also always been one of my favorites choices, not to mention how good they sound live.

Its also great hearing as well as seeing some of the newer Metal bands out there, many of which have already been listed.

I was talking about this, mastering the album louder and louder and ending up with reduced dynamic range and albums which tend to sound distorted and thin...which is kind of hard to understand as a stylistic choice unless you are Merzbow or one of those tr00kvlt black metal artists who do no-fi recordings in a forest (and they obviously wouldn't like such studio trickery).

Listener is no longer expected to turn that volume in their stereo up if they want to listen to an album, the music makers do it for them.

Also a reason why several music enthusiasts have started to swear by old CDs printed in 80's, they are often better-sounding than the modern ones, and not because of musical content.

I agree completely. When I play CD's like th remastered version of Zappa's "We Only in it for the Money" you can't even hear it compared to most of the "modern" cd's although there is another culprit that I can point to-->

Spoiler:

It's the same reason why old guys like me can still listen to stuff like metal, and other bass heavy genre's (I'll admit a strong predjudice to the Bass) even new Jazz, while most people just older than myself can't stand it. It's the death of vinyl, or more rightly the death of the record player. They simply could not mix that much Bass into anything back then, because the average consumer's player would skip. With the take over of cassete and then CD much higher levels were possible. Also signal processing equipment can take much higher levels now without distortion, thus the ability to produce at higher andd higher levels. Plus they know I'm getting deafer! :) wait that's not very metal.... :< Earthdogs!!

Let's see. Most memorable metal concert... Nuclear Assault in some dark warehouse called the Bayside Expo center in Dorchester MA, Boston, December 14th, 1988 (Holiday Thrash Bash). They put on a show with Manowar, Meliah Rage, and Hades. Awesome show! Anyone else here remember that one?

Saw Pantera just one time too many in the early 80's as well. Them guys lived on the road for years.

Still like Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar, Judas Priest, Blue Oyster Cult, Ronnie James Dio, and Twisted Sister as well. Listened to Ministry and Front 242 in the early 80's as well, before they went mainstream.

Riot...wow havent thought about them in a while. I had a bud with a Ktel type cassette with them, Pretty Maids, Vinnie Vincent Invasion "Animal", Priests "Parental Guidance", and a buncha other great tunes on there. Maybe Suicidal Tendencies too.

Seems like metal dropped off the face of the earth in October! Thus, I bring some back. For beautiful symphonic metal, Kamelot is the #1 stop in my book. You can find many videos, both live and not live, on youtube. For thrash and death metal combo, try out some Light This City. Just listen to Beginning With Release and tell me that isn't awesome metal.

Seems like metal dropped off the face of the earth in October! Thus, I bring some back. For beautiful symphonic metal, Kamelot is the #1 stop in my book. You can find many videos, both live and not live, on youtube. For thrash and death metal combo, try out some Light This City. Just listen to Beginning With Release and tell me that isn't awesome metal.

I skipped to the last page, as I need to get this out and go...

But Savatage, Suicidal Tendencies, and of all things sacred, Manowar.

Thanks for not ever deleting threads, people. Excellent community builders of a thread if I ever saw it.

Just caught this thread and have to add my 2 cents. I listen to as much punk as I do metal, but by far the best show I was at had to be Slayer/archenemy/Hatebreed in Pittsburgh in a hockey rink that had carpet laid over the ice. It was BRUTAL! In State College, PA, we used to have a venue called the Crowbar that would get great bands every Tuesday. That was the greatest days of my youth as it was never crowded, because it was friggin TUESDAY! Seen Soulfly, DevilDriver, The Misfits (Michale Graves version), Henry Rollins, Mushroomhead, Static X, Henry Rollins, Dope, Cold, Type O Negative, and many many others there. God I miss that place.

I cut it off some time between 1991 (Metallica's Black Album) and 1992 (Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction).

The latter is even worse than the former, but they (mixed with lame albums from Anthrax and Danzig) effectively killed my interest in metal until I heard The Sword a couple years ago.

And Sutter, when in god's name did you see Metallica perform Master of Puppets live?

IN THE WOMB?!?!

I am an assh*le grognard for Metal.

I became familiar with Metal with Mercyful Fate in mid '80s. I switched to thrash metal, punk/HC and crossover almost immediately (Carnivore, Slayer, Possessed, Sodom, Bathory, NME, Cryptic Slaughter, Ludichrist, Crumbsuckers, DRI, Sadus, Negative Approach, Minor Threat, Verbal Abuse, Poison blah blah blah). I became a big Death Metal and Grindcore addict all through late 80's up to 2000 and I did my good share of tapetrading dubbed cassettes with pals all over the world, but I generally cut away 99% of everything released after 1992. Not that there are no great bands playing today, and South America is pushing stronger than ever, but things are just not the same for me, and for the worse. I still buy Cds, all the time, and still enjoy good music which by my standards do not involve any bands with 3 word names or intellectual-grinders/postcore/metalcore/beardo/whatever bands or anything with a miscroscope still on the cover (Dillinger Escape Plan etc.).

As for Metallica, I can go up to Master of Puppets, and not all of it. But Ride the Lightning is still a solid album by all standards.

Did any other Paizonistas catch the recent Exodus/Testament/Megadeth tour? Man, what a show that was.

My old band once got offered the chance to open for Exodus and had to turn it down, 'cause I knew we wouldn't be able to do the booker justice (considering tickets were something insane like $40 a pop, and he would have expected us to bring our normal number of folks, which would be impossible at those prices).

Talk about a tough decision... my conscience only barely won that one. :P

Yeah, you missed out. I'd happily pony up $40 to see Exodus. Their problem has always been that none of their albums are all that great (Tempo Of The Damned comes closest, though Bonded By Blood is up there as well) - however, when they go onstage and play their best material, they are quite possibly the best thrash act out there. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

BTW, I just saw the Mastodon/Between The Buried And Me tour, and it was flat-out nuts. Though Mastodon was fantastic (they had a 'good vocals day' in Tucson. Apparently the fans in California were less lucky), BTBAM blew me completely away.

Yeah, you missed out. I'd happily pony up $40 to see Exodus. Their problem has always been that none of their albums are all that great (Tempo Of The Damned comes closest, though Bonded By Blood is up there as well) - however, when they go onstage and play their best material, they are quite possibly the best thrash act out there. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

BTW, I just saw the Mastodon/Between The Buried And Me tour, and it was flat-out nuts. Though Mastodon was fantastic (they had a 'good vocals day' in Tucson. Apparently the fans in California were less lucky), BTBAM blew me completely away.

I've heard that BTBAM are insane live. I've never gotten as into them as my bandmates, but I have tremendous respect for their abilities. I feel similarly about Dream Theater (though Systematic Chaos is the only album I really listen to)... gotta respect the prog.

I enjoyed the new Mastodon album when it first came out, though lately Stephen King audiobooks have dropped my new music intake to almost zero. I will, however, say that my favorite Mastodon song will always be Cut You Up With A Linoleum Knife.

Sadly, Mastodon didn't play "Cut You Up..." on this tour (or any tour, probably). As for BTBAM, they are...odd onstage. No fan interaction, no talking between songs, and the vocalist is so shy he looks away from the crowd most of the time. But they sound insanely good.

They get too proggy for my tastes at times, though. I don't listen to the ragtime parts of the "Colors" album...

Here I am late to the party as usual. I just saw this thread and wanted to add a little. As a fellow gamer and musician, I hope you forgive my shameless "self" promotion. I don't get to share these stories very often.

I was on the audio/design team for Guitar Hero from GH3 until its demise (insert sad face). I even moved to New York to help redesign GH for the GH7 edition that was sadly cancelled, so I moved back to Cali.

Those of you who have played GH know we love/d our metal. I thought I would share a couple of metal stories here. First, Guitar Hero: Metallica. Arguably my favorite of all the GH's to work on. The entire band showed up for motion capture and hammed it up with us. They even invited the entire team up to San Francisco for a private concert. It was amazing. They were preparing for their tour and were doing dress rehearsals but opened the doors and let all of us in. Then they bought drinks...after which I don't remember much.

Some other mentionables:

Motorhead: Lemmy was amazing and kept hitting on the girls.
Zakk Wylde: Embarrassed a fellow designer in the bathroom...no I won't say more, haha
Ozzy: Came in for his mo-cap and for the first time invited the entire company to watch. He wanted as many people as possible so that he could feel like he was performing a live concert. He even invited a couple guys to sit in as the rest of his band. During mo-cap the artist is instructed to act out their unique reaction to the player playing the song correctly as well as badly. For anyone who has seen Ozzy you know that he likes to throw buckets of water on the front row. Well, for the mo-cap, while he was acting out the player failing the song, he picked up the bucket and heaved it at my friend "bunny" (or it might have been BMarvs) sitting in as the bass player and hit him square in the head, haha. He then turned toward the drummer and kicked a roll of gaffer tape at him. The tape split the cymbals , like a football through the uprights and also hit him in the face. True story!
And then there's the Ted Nugent story...wait is Sweaty Teddy metal? Oh well, I can't tell the story then...

Erik mentioned The Sword, another favorite of mine from GH. Definitely check them out. His post is from 2008, so i'm sure you already have.

I'm still mad at Ozzy for the way Sharon, Zakk and the others treated Maiden at Ozzfest a couple of years back.

I'm still mad at ozzy and Sharon for them ruining Blizzard of OZ and Diary of a Mad Man by adding new drums and base. Simple greed. They didn't want to pay the original bassist and drummer.

Edit:
Great bands (not in any special order):

- Led Zeppelin - They are still the best. John Bonham, the first funky white drummer on earth.
- Black Sabbath (Both with ozzy and Dio)
- AC/DC (fantastic group. Love both singers)
- Motörhead ("Bastards" is their best album, not Ace of Spades)
- Rammstein (first 4 albums)
- Deep Purple - (Some of it)
- Rainbow (Early stuff was great, including Down to earth)
- Dio (Early albums)
- Ozzy
- Gillan (Magic is Magic)
- UFO
- Uriah Heep
- Judas priest
- Saxon
- Girlschool (they rocked)
- The Runaways (they actually made some good songs)
- Iron Maiden (Early stuff)
- Queensryche (First EP is still the best.)
- Thin Lizzy (Rip, Phil and Gary)
- Whitesnake (English version of Slide it in was better)
- Gary Moore (Yes: everything before the blues stuff)
- Krokus (Headhunter is a great album)
- Alcatrazz (both the Yngwie and Steve albums were good, but I like Disturbing the Peace better)
- The Cult ("Electric", a good album)
- Soundgarden (love them)
- Audioslave (also good)
- Y&T / Yesterday and Today (Before the kicked Leonard Haze.)
- Michael Schenker Group
- David Lee Roth (Eat them and smile is still one of the best albums ever)
- Van Halen (Great!)
- Rush (yes, they did make some good records)
- Badlands (first album was great)
- Ranging Slab (don't know if they are metal but they made one good album)
- Slayer (Reign in blood, still one of best albums ever)
- Accept (early stuff)
- Scorpions (yes they have made some good albums)
- DAD (fun band)
- King's X (First two albums)
- Kiss - (Last decent album was Creatures of the Night)
- Legs Diamond ("waiting" is still a great song)
- Mahogany Rush (last good record was Juggernaut)
- Mama's Boys (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia)
- Nazareth (Early stuff Like "Loud 'N' Proud" and Hair of the Dog)
- Nirvana
- Rage against the Machine (Some good songs)
- Alice in chains
- Faith no more
- Red hot chili peppers (some of the Early stuff)
- Def Leppard
- Mercyful Fate (acquired taste, but I like them)
- King Diamond (Early stuff, acquired taste, but I like them)

- Manowar (Perhaps not so great but made some good songs)
- Montrose (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia)
- Budgie (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia)
- Triumph (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia)

Edit:
Oh my god. I forgot:
- Ministry
- Slipknot

Some obscure bands:
- Trouble (Trouble is still a great album).
- Masters of reality (Their first album is REALLY great)
- Savatage (Hall of the Mountain King, a great album)
- Demon (One or two good records)
- Chateaux (chained and desperate, anyone remember this record?)
- Lucifer's Friend (one great album!)
- Ursa Major (one great album!)
- Captain Beyond. (one great album!)
- Sir Lord Baltimore (one great album!)
- Manilla Road (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia)
- Gordi (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia)
- More (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia)
- Rose Tattoo (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia)
- Tygers of pan Tang (Perhaps not great, but nostalgia. John Sykes first band)

I agree completely. When I play CD's like th remastered version of Zappa's "We Only in it for the Money" you can't even hear it compared to most of the "modern" cd's although there is another culprit that I can point to-->** spoiler omitted **

Zappa Live in NY and Roxy also sounds like Sh*t.

Live in NY has no attack what so ever when it comes to the bas and the drums.
But the EMI CD versions (from the 80s) of the Zappa albums sound great (YAWYI and TTRB, etc).
Early mastering = good, late CD mastering = sh*t.

@DungeonmasterCal: OK here it is.
I couldn't bother making a top 100, but with the other lists its more than 100 bands/solo acts.

The list(s). Why and how:

What I listen to is dependent on mood, company, situation and other factors. Also what I listen to doesn't have to be my favorite bands. Led Zeppelin is indeed my favorite band, but I spend more time listening to AC/DC, Van Halen, Nickelback, Rammstein than Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Slayers or Black Sabbath.

My favorite groups are always in shuffle depending on who's more recently released something, whether or not I liked it in comparison with their older stuff, If my girlfriend can put up with the noise, and other factors.

One such factor is that a lot of my Metal music is on Vinyl. I got some on CD and some on Mp3.
My Vinyl player is broken and my amplifier is also broken so for the last year or so my computer has been my Music Box. This mean I now mostly use youtube, Spotify or the MP3 I got in my computer.

So how should I rate them? My favorite bands according to how they have influenced me or should it be based on what I'm currently is listening to? I have use mix of both.

If I were to list the bands that have meant most to me (and/or that gave me some kind of eye opener) the list would be short and easy to compile. Top two on that list would be Kiss and The Runaways, whereas band like Led Zeppelin and AC/DC would have a far lower ranking (LZ 6 or 7 and AC/DC 15 or 16) and groups like Magnus would fair higher than AC/DC but not as high as LZ. I listened to Kiss long before I got hocked on Led Zeppelin or AC/DC.

I haven't listened to Magnum or The Runaways more than a few times during the last 10 years and when I did I felt the music was dated. They are not bands that I would put on any to 50 list of best metal bands, but they once were important and I have most of their records (on vinyl). Thin Lizzy is similar in that the music, with some exceptions , is a bit dated, but some of the music is still great (Live and Dangerous, Thunder and Lightning, etc). Queen on the other hand still is one of my favorite bands and "Jazz", "A day" and "A night" are great, rock solid albums. And I still think their sound is great.

Some will probably be surprised that I don't rate Deep Purple, Nirvana, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Van Halen higher than I do. I do like these groups, especially Van Halen, but I never was very impressed by any of them (with the exception on Van Halen).

I have added some additional lists. I like to have Rush, Saga and stuff like that on a list but I know it is controversial to call them heavy metal, so I filed them under progressive metal :-). Then I created some more lists.

I might have forgotten some bands/artists. My music collection is extensive and it's hard to remember every artist/group.

Honorable mentions, Groups/artists/Record Companies that are not heavy metal or associated with Metal but that have greatly influenced heavy metal:

1. Led Zeppelin - They are still the best. John Bonham, the first funky white drummer on earth.
2. AC/DC - Love both singers. Most days prefer Bon Scott. FINNALY, they are now on Spotify.
3. Rammstein - First 4 albums are the best. The made some really great/fun videos too.
4. Black Sabbath - I prefer the Ozzy and Dio line ups but even like some of the later stuff.
5. Motörhead - Lemmy is Mr. Rock. You got to have them on the top 5. Another perfect day is underrated and Bastards is their best. But I love the stuff with Eddie to.

6. Ozzy - I love the original version of "Blizzard" and "Madman". Bark at the Moon is another great album.
7. Dio - Early albums.
8. David Lee Roth - it was actually Eat them and smile that opened my eyes to Van Halen. I had some records with VH, but it was DLR first solo record that made me really listen to them
9. Van Halen - Prefer line up with DLR.
10. Soundgarden / Audioslave - I love them both.

11. Whitesnake
12. Nickelback - Some say they are the musak of HM, I don't care. I like them.
13. Kiss
14. Rainbow - Early stuff was great, including Down to earth
15. Judas priest - Can't decide if they should be on 14 or 15 place, Today 15.

16. Slayer - Reign in blood, still one of best albums ever
17. Thin Lizzy - Don't actually listen to them that much, but they were a great band.
18. Deep Purple - I like most of their stuff (Gillan and Coverdale), but only love some of it.
19. Ministry - I like them, but like Rammstein more ;-)
20. Monster magnet - Powertrip is still their best album.

21. WASP - Highly underrated.
22. Alcatrazz - Made two great albums.
23. Foo fighters - Yes I prefer them to Nirvana.
24. Queensryche (First EP is still the best.)
25. Y&T / Yesterday and Today - Before the kicked Leonard Haze.
26. Badlands - Their first album is a classic.
27. Saxon - Great band. I even like later stuff like " I've Got To Rock"
28. Krokus - Headhunter is a great album
29. DAD - Made one great album and some OK albums.
30. Gillan - Many great albums. Some are Metal some are not. Great regardless.

31. Trouble - Yes, they are on the Old list too. Only made one really great album.
32. Accept - Fast as a shark. Still a great track.
33. Nazareth (Early stuff Like "Loud 'N' Proud" and Hair of the Dog)
34. Iron Maiden (Early stuff)
35. Mahogany Rush -last good record was Juggernaut.
36. Guns and Roses - Made one great albumand then some good songs.
37. Scorpions - Both Roth and Schenker line ups made some good stuff, but I prefer the older stuff with Uli Roth
38. Corrosion of conformity
39. Uriah Heep - One of the big 4 (Zeppelin, Sabbath, Purple and Heep)
40. UFO - early stuff was great. Lights out, Rock Bottom.

41. The Cult ("Electric", a good album)
42. Girlschool (they rocked)
43. Gary Moore - Not his latest stuff.
44. MSG/Michael Schenker Group - Assault Attack is a highly underrated album.
45. Nirvana - Yes they must be on a top 50 list. Some days I would rate them much higher.
46. Ranging Slab (don't know if they are metal but they made at least one good album)
47. Merciful Fate / King Diamond - Acquired taste, but I like them.
48. Def Leppard - some days they are on the top 25 list.
49. Slipknot - Just discovered them Love them when I'm in the right mood.
50. Metallica

51. Legs Diamond - "waiting" is still a great song.
52. Pearl Jam
53. Alice in chains
54. Savatage - One great album and some good ones.
55. Fastway - First album was good.
56. Rose Tattoo - Highly underrated band.
57. The Runaways - they actually made some good songs
58. Carcass - when I'm in the right mood.
59. Mama's Boys
60. Rage against the Machine -Some good songs

61. Red hot chili peppers - some of the Early stuff
62. Manowar - Yes, They are Cheesy but Defender is still a good song. Orson Welles helps :-)
63. Machine head - when I'm in the right mood.
64. Samson - Highly underrated band.
65. Night ranger - Highly underrated.
66. Pantera - when I'm in the right mood.
67. Faith no more - Highly overrated, but made a couple of good songs.
68. Tygers of pan Tang - Hellbound is great track and it was John Sykes first band.
69. Blackfoot - Perhaps not Metal. Made some good stuff.
70. Lizzy Borden - Not great, but here for nostalgic reasons

For more great stuff check out the other lists.

old and/or obscure stuff:

1. Sir Lord Baltimore - Made one good record. Kingdom Come. Fantastic stuff.
2. Trouble - Trouble is still a great album
3. Masters of Reality - One great, but one great album is enough.
4. Lucifer's Friend - One good album.
5. Ursa Major - Underrated
6. Captain Beyond - Underrated
7. Budgie - Underrated
8. Montrose - Perhaps not great, but here for nostalgic reasons
9. Chateaux - Chained and Desperate
10. Warlord - "Deliver Us" had its moments.
11. Warhorse - First record and Vulture Blood had a couple of good songs.
12. Gordi - Perhaps not great, but here for nostalgic reasons
13. More - Perhaps not great, but deserves to at some sort of list
14. Manilla Road - Perhaps not great, but deserves to at some sort of list. Their producer and their singer ruined them. The music isn't bad, but the sound and the singer is really tiresome.

What I meant was a way for me (or another reader) to select my favorite bands individually from your lists just by clicking on a "favorites" button or the like. Sorry for all the work you went through!

Still, it's pretty uncanny how you and I agree on the placement of nearly every band you've mentioned. I only recently discovered Opeth and I'm completely in a trance over them.

What I meant was a way for me (or another reader) to select my favorite bands individually from your lists just by clicking on a "favorites" button or the like. Sorry for all the work you went through!

No problem. I'm not sure how that would be possible. One way would be to create a new thread where every group/artist is one post.

BTW, I lost one of my favorite bands in the editing process. Queen , they should be at 10th place. I first had both Van Halen and David lee Roth and 9th place and then Queen at 10th. It's so annoying I can't edit the list.

DungeonmasterCal wrote:

Still, it's pretty uncanny how you and I agree on the placement of nearly every band you've mentioned. I only recently discovered Opeth and I'm completely in a trance over them.

I too recently discovered them. I can't believe I have not heard of them before. I probably should have them at 4th place or at least 5th.

BTW, I want to share with some of the metal heads here the thrash album that has been kicking my ass this year. I saw them not too long ago at a festival just miles away from my home and the band Vindicator, delivered a punch that puts to shame what Dave Mustaine has been putting out on public radio as of late.

Listen to Vindicator's "United We Fall" album and it'll remind you of the stuff that Dave did back in the 80's with his paranoid government conspiracies as well as serious dual solo shredding. "13" sucks compared to this. Gets that west coast sound while been based right outside of Cleveland Ohio.

I've seen Iron Maiden 5 times (only because they don't play gigs close to where I live anymore. Otherwise I'd be there every time). I saw them once in a tiny, hole in the wall club in Memphis when Blaze Bailey was still with them.

Another time I went up for a high five with Steve Harris and missed his hand, hitting his bass really hard. I thought I'd get tossed out by the security people, but instead he gave me a thumbs up and "Well done, mate!"

My tastes run a pretty wide selection of all different genres (except for rap, hip hop, country & western and manufactured pop, I'll listen to a bit of everything), but my main love is metal of all kinds.

Pirate Metal: Alestorm (these guys kind of stand alone here, though I suppose Running Wild did a bit of it back in the day)

There's a few bands in there in particular that I'm finding I tend to play more than others at the moment, namely Dead Letter Circus, Twelve Foot Ninja, Karnivool, Kylesa and Fair to Midland. The first three are some of the best Australian bands around at the moment. I've seen them multiple times in Canberra, and they're always brilliant. Kylesa I saw at Soundwave last year, and I was lucky enough to catch Fair to Midland when they were touring Australia for the first time to support Dead Letter Circus. Some of the best live shows I've seen. Highly recommend all of them.

So I've been a metal head since the Late 70's starting with the Godfathers of Metal Black Sabbath. I jumped to hard Blues rock like Aerosmith then to the Real fathers of metal Judas Priest. While in HS a class mate told me about Iron Maiden and I got Number of the Beast which had just been released when I graduated. Not long after I got into Saxon and went to my first metal concert in 1983 to see the British metal Onslaught of Iron Maiden, Saxon and Fastway.

It was not long before I had over 500 albums of nothing but metal, most being pop metal bands like Dokken, the Scorpions, UFO, Y&T and then obscure bands like Tsunamie, RAIL and many more.

I started playing my guitar more bought a ton of equipment from Gibson les Paul, to a guitar that was refereed to my Neo-Space Age Explorer, to Yamaha, to my babb which was a Charvel Jackson model 2 and my Charvel DX series. I got keyboards, bass guitars, drum machines, and my amps a Peavey VTM 120 1/2 stack and my Marshall JCM 800 100 watt on a Peavey Sheffield 4X12 stereo cab.

I started off as a guitarist that did backing vocals and keyboards and the ability to play bass if needed and then latter became a lead singer guitar player and playing up and down the front range of Colorado at places like Bangles, After the Gold Rush, Pure Energy, Tanz, AJ's, The Armory, The Dark Room, Alibi's, Castaways and a few others. We got regular airplay on Original music hour on KBPI and the now defunct KAZY and on KILO. KILO even featured us in a 30 minute spot and interview. As an all original band we made little money but had great rewards. In many ways the sound of the music was like Maiden meets Dream Theater, Meets Metallica (Though I am far from a Metallica fan our bass player was)

While I am not playing in bands in more (Marriage and family life and a spouse that got jealous because you got asked out and hit on all the time by other musicians and fans put an end to playing. I tried to get back in to music a few years ago but found that my idea's, wants and needs did not mesh up with everyone elses in the state I live in.

I am still a huge Iron Maiden fan, as well as my Priest, But I really get into Kamelot (My drummer was great friends with Casey before my drummer past away from a brain tumor). Within Temptaion and Nightwish and Xandia are in my favs as well. But recently my BF turned me onto Battlebeast with their new singer and I'm really enjoying that band as well as his favorite UDO and old UDO Accept.

I don't make it to concerts much the last was Kamelot and Nightwish and it was the show Annette missed and was let go a few nights later from. I wanted to go see Kamelot and Delain but funds have not allowed me to go. Though I may get tickets at the last moment

I miss my old house. For one, my two roommates were also gaming buddies, one of whom was also a jam buddy for music. Second, we lived right next to the airport and the city had paid to have all the houses in the neighborhood sound proofed. Our basement was a practice space, we had at least 8-9 amps, drum kit, etc. Turning my bass amp all the way, it shook the house, but you could barely hear it outside. It was awesome.